The creation of a national memorial to honor Native American veterans is a step closer to becoming a reality.
A call for entries to design the National Native American Veterans Memorial was issued on Nov. 11 by the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., where the memorial will be placed.
“It’s a wide-open competition. We’re inviting artists, architects, designers and regular citizens to submit their ideas for a design,” Rebecca Trautmann, projects curator for the memorial, said.
The competition will be completed in two stages with entries for the first stage due on Jan. 9.
Participants selected for the second stage will be announced on Jan. 25, and the design selected for the memorial will be announced on July 4, according to the memorial website.
“It’s exciting to see it moving forward, and it’s exciting to be at this stage where we’re starting to accept designs,” Trautmann said.
Movement on the memorial gained momentum after Congress amended the Native American Veterans’ Memorial Establishment Act in 2013 authorizing the museum to create the memorial.
“Most Americans are not aware of the incredibly high rate of service of Native Americans in the military, and it’s a long, rich, honorable tradition,” Trautmann said. “The memorial is intended to make people better aware of that service and honor the veterans for their service.”
The amendment also authorized the museum to raise funds for the $15 million project. The amount includes the cost for consultations, conducting the design competition, an oral history project, and outreach and programming.
“The federal government authorized the memorial, but did not provide funding for it, which is typical for these memorial projects,” Trautmann said.